The BEAR (Between the EU and Russia) network’s key objective is to promote a better understanding of how the EU and Russia influence and inspire minority politics, integration efforts, and societal contestation on the EU’s eastern borders by: 1) stimulating knowledge development through academic collaborations and connections; 2) conducting high-quality teaching activities across Europe, North America and Russia; and 3) disseminating our knowledge to policymakers, the public and other key constituencies. Our network brings together 25 scholars from 11 universities in six countries to explore attempts to mobilize, influence, protect, and claim regional minority groups on the EU’s eastern borders, as well as how societal actors in the region draw upon, react to, and engage with the overlapping influences of the EU and Russia.

This year’s BEAR Network Summer School Mobility Grants allow graduate students to travel to Montreal to participate in the first BEAR Summer School untitled “Between the EU and Russia: Transnational ‘Soft Power’ and Societal Activism,” to be held in June 18-23, 2018.